FM8 Heavy Bass Tutorial

This NI FM8 video tutorial is a great one for any sound design enthusiast interested in learning more about how to use frequency modulation synthesis to create some heavy bass synths.

This helpful tutorial is pretty down to earth and easy to understand. Moving at a nice pace and explained without too much complex language, beginners will find it priceless in regards to the advice and insights shared throughout the process of designing the sound. Those who already have experience with FM synthesis will appreciate the candid look at someone’s workflow in one of the best programs available for the job. FM8 is so streamlined and offers a crazy amount of control and flexibility, it’s perfect for building this kind of sound in no time at all.

It starts up with a basic explanation of how Frequency Modulation Synthesis works on a fundamental level. The sound design begins with the FM Matrix. A quick showing of how to route sounds and set values leads to a better understanding of carriers, operators and modulation in general. Moving between the individual oscillators’ panels allows you access to more parameters to tweak, giving you a lot more options and really helps to drive home the ideas at work in this kind of synthesis if you are used to subtractive or granular workflows. These first steps in the video lay the ground work for the sound and let you get used to the interface before moving into the manipulation and modulation phase of the lesson.

Voicing, envelopes, LFO, effects and a whole lot more tools are discussed and put to use throughout the rest of the video and he does a good job of explaining exactly what he’s doing and why. In the end you finish with a very cool, and very nasty, heavy bass synth that can be put to good use in a wide range of music genres and styles of music. There is a lot of vocal formant presence in there too, which makes it a great sound to use some automation on to help expose it at just the right times in your songs.

If you design your own sounds in FM8 and would like to have the opportunity to share your ideas with the world, send us a message and we can help you get started. We are always happy to hear from our community members and appreciate your involvement and eagerness to share and learn with us. Thanks for stopping by!